This is a blog dedicated to the simplicity of the Old School Renaissance of Role Playing Games and the Fusion of Modern Role Playing Game Ideas.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The OSR in me never died.
Well after a few more sessions of 4th Edition I decided to bring out my LL/AEC setting and work on it again. Not that the 4th edition sessions went "bad" per say it's just they didn't go "well". I had to give up the reigns of the DM as well as I have a LONG day that involves waking up a 3:25 in the morning and then getting to bed at 100:00 at four days a week and the fifth is an 8 hour shift but the 71.5 mile drive one way is the killed plus the 25 minute bus ride, plus the almost a mile walk. See very little time for rules intensive RPGs. Funny I can still create for the LL/AEC as all I think of is the story and then the rules just allow me to just write them down in minutes. The 4th has some good qualities and really good story ideas but it still does not offer that "certain magic" that the OSR does. I just recently reconnected with a few Old Schoolers in the area and may see if they want to play some RPGs old school style.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
D&D Essentials and other musings
So what's the opinion on this new cost efficient version of D&D? Any of you Old School Gamers have any interest in it at all? After looking at a few examples it appears to be the very same ol 4th edition just presented in a different format. I still see many 4th edition "purist" especially the ones I know freaking and fuming about the whole thing. I kinda like the small 6 x 9 inch booklets idea.
Possibly (but unlikely due to life and time constraints) one day I will try to write my RPG that is a mix of the old and new school.
Old school simplicity with the new school options.
Let's face it some of the rule restrictions and such in the world of old school gaming is just stupid. Level Limits being the most and racial class restrictions as well.
In the new school it's monster stats that are as long and complicated as character stats, too many hit points, too much math, way too many rules.
Someone needs to mend these with a really cool game that mixes the old and new in a simple way.
It might just be me (or somebody else with time and a life).
Possibly (but unlikely due to life and time constraints) one day I will try to write my RPG that is a mix of the old and new school.
Old school simplicity with the new school options.
Let's face it some of the rule restrictions and such in the world of old school gaming is just stupid. Level Limits being the most and racial class restrictions as well.
In the new school it's monster stats that are as long and complicated as character stats, too many hit points, too much math, way too many rules.
Someone needs to mend these with a really cool game that mixes the old and new in a simple way.
It might just be me (or somebody else with time and a life).
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Cracks Forming?
Wow the essentials has quite a few 4th edition players and DMs paranoid! More on this on a later post.
Once again another session of 4th edition that went well EXCEPT that more that half of the party got bored. Once again through no fault of anyone at the table the combat went WAY too long.
I once again asked about the S&W and LL game that we played in the past and was told by another memebr guilty of falling asleep during 4th edition games MORE that anyone else that she did not really like the old school gaming for no real clear reason other than not alot of stuff that I can do and not alot of hit points. It was too easy to die in the old school games.
What? Only one PC died and he replaced his character in about 5 minutes as that's all it took to roll one up?
Later on my wife said the same thing? What?!?!?!? her character made it to second level?
Cracks are forming as we level up and combat no matter what get's more and more boring even though we can do some really cool stuff the slower less gamer-centric players get left behind in the dust of the complication. They get to made to feel stupid and slow as the gamer-centric players get the rules.
In the old days only the DM needed to know the rules and the players just played. In fact it was not until the 90s that I learned the rules. I started in 81 or so.
Once again another session of 4th edition that went well EXCEPT that more that half of the party got bored. Once again through no fault of anyone at the table the combat went WAY too long.
I once again asked about the S&W and LL game that we played in the past and was told by another memebr guilty of falling asleep during 4th edition games MORE that anyone else that she did not really like the old school gaming for no real clear reason other than not alot of stuff that I can do and not alot of hit points. It was too easy to die in the old school games.
What? Only one PC died and he replaced his character in about 5 minutes as that's all it took to roll one up?
Later on my wife said the same thing? What?!?!?!? her character made it to second level?
Cracks are forming as we level up and combat no matter what get's more and more boring even though we can do some really cool stuff the slower less gamer-centric players get left behind in the dust of the complication. They get to made to feel stupid and slow as the gamer-centric players get the rules.
In the old days only the DM needed to know the rules and the players just played. In fact it was not until the 90s that I learned the rules. I started in 81 or so.